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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23953873">The Principal's Office</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/alpacasandravens/pseuds/alpacasandravens'>alpacasandravens</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>gotham gets hugs [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gotham (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant?, Gen, Hugs, alfred is learning to be a dad, bruce hates school, set in S1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:00:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,037</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23953873</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/alpacasandravens/pseuds/alpacasandravens</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce is having a terrible day at school, and Alfred gets called to pick him up.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alfred Pennyworth &amp; Bruce Wayne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>gotham gets hugs [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726849</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Principal's Office</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thanks to @owlxe for the prompt!!<br/>** TW for one use of ret*rded as a slur because middle schoolers are vicious bullies</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Hello?” Alfred picked up the phone, which had started ringing as he made himself a sandwich for a late lunch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Pennyworth?” The voice on the other end of the phone was female, harried and slightly apologetic. “I’m calling about your son.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bruce?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” the woman said as though this is obvious. “I’m from his school.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a time, not too long ago, when no one would think to assume Alfred was Bruce’s father. Less than two years ago, Thomas and Martha had been alive and well, and Alfred had been no more than a helpful shadow, as a butler should be. But now that he was Bruce’s guardian, it seemed more and more people were forgetting that the Waynes had ever existed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is everything all right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman paused for a second too long. “I’m calling because Bruce has been disruptive in class. He’s in the principal’s office now, and the school is sending him home for the remainder of the day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll come get him.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you. While you’re here, would you be able to speak to the principal for a few moments? It seems this disruptive behavior has become something of a pattern.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alfred sighed. He knew Bruce didn’t want to go to school, but he’d hoped for better than purposely disrupting class so he could leave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely.” His voice was thin. “It’ll be no trouble at all.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Alfred arrived at Bruce’s school twenty minutes later, having come as fast as he could without breaking any traffic laws. There was a parking spot not too far away from the front doors, and from there, he made his way to the principal’s office. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Inside, Bruce was sitting perfectly still on a hard plastic chair pushed against the secretary’s wall. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello Alfred,” he said, voice showing no sign of extraordinary circumstances. “Thank you for picking me up from school.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alfred looked at his watch. “I would have picked you up from school in one hour anyway, Master Bruce. The school said you were being disruptive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce shrugged. “That’s what they say.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you say?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know I don’t like school, Alfred.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, but that’s no excuse to deliberately disrupt it.” Alfred sat down in the chair beside Bruce. These chairs might be the right size for twelve year olds like Bruce, but they were not the right size for fully grown men, and Alfred felt a little silly. “I thought we had a deal. School for teaching you to fight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wasn’t being disruptive,” Bruce said sullenly. “I was drawing in my notebook.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Which led to a meeting with the principal?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce sighed and opened his mouth to speak, right as the principal opened his door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Pennyworth,” the principal said. “Please come in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce closed his mouth and crossed his arms, staring at the tiled floor as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the car after the meeting, Bruce still sat with his arms crossed and stared out the window. They hadn’t left the parking lot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How about this. I tell you what the principal told me, and you tell me what really happened,” Alfred said. He was trying to be a good parent, but he didn’t have any experience. It was one thing, he suspected, to start out with a baby and quite another for someone else’s preteen to unexpectedly become your own, and he was still struggling to adjust. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.” Bruce didn’t look at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What your principal told me was that you ignore your teachers, refuse to participate in group work, and that today you punched a classmate during lunch.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce frowned. “I pay attention. But classes are so boring, and I get distracted, so I draw in my notebooks, but my teachers think drawing means I’m not listening.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alfred nodded. “And about the other things?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I did punch Tommy,” Bruce said defensively. “But only because he said bad things about my father and then called me retarded. And he’s who I was paired up with for group work, which is why I wouldn’t do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You shouldn’t punch children at school, Master Bruce.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But he was being terrible! He deserved it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve no doubt he did,” Alfred said. “But fighting at school only leads to more trouble. And you haven’t learned a strong enough punch yet to make it worth it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what, I should just let him get away with being a jerk?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. All I am saying, Master Bruce, is to not fight at school. After school is perfectly acceptable.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Several minutes passed in silence, and when they were almost back to Wayne Manor, Bruce asked “Can I not go to school?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We made a deal, remember?” Alfred said patiently. He might not have been sure about parenting, but one thing he knew was that letting a preteen drop out of school was not a good idea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The kids there hate me,” Bruce said. “They all think I’m stupid. And I could learn just as well here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am not a teacher, Master Bruce.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can do online school.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Fine.” Alfred got the sense that if he kept Bruce in school, these visits to the principal’s office would become more regular than he would like. “Will you try school again when you start high school?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce sighed. “Do I have to?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would very much like you to,” Alfred said, pulling into the Manor’s garage.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce crossed his arms. “Maybe. Will you still teach me to fight?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alfred unbuckled his seat belt and both he and Bruce got out of the car. “Of course. I hear you need to defend yourself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Alfred.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce tentatively reached out to hug Alfred, who for a moment just stood there, shocked. Bruce didn’t do much in the way of physical affection. Alfred was pretty sure the last time Bruce had hugged him had been more than a year ago. If he was reaching out now, he must be even more upset than he was letting on. Alfred hugged him back, and thought this was what having a son was like. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shall we have grilled cheese for dinner?” Alfred asked once Bruce had pulled away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce smiled shakily. “That sounds wonderful, thank you, Alfred.”</span>
</p>
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